Monfort to Colorado Rockies Fans: All Is Well, Dan O'Dowd for GM of the Year

Over the past couple of weeks, Rockies fans conspired to make a statement against an organization that has kept them up at night for an untold amount of years.

It came to a head at last weekend’s series against the middling Seattle Mariners. En route to getting swept by one of the American League doormats, boos consistently rained down on the Rockies from the large crowd who unknowingly bought tickets for a horror flick instead of a baseball game. The loudest cheers of the homestand occurred when the Rox managed to score a run on Sunday to cut the Mariner’s lead to 9-1. A sarcastic standing ovation gave the purple pinstripes all they needed to know.

The fans have spoken. And they’re sick and tired of subpar baseball. And something needs to be done.

If you thought things couldn’t get much worse, owner Dick Monfort proved otherwise on Tuesday afternoon.

In an interview with Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post, Monfort incredibly gave a vote of confidence to manager Jim Tracy and, even more amazingly, beleaguered general manager Dan O’Dowd.

"I think he's a tremendous asset," Monfort said of O’Dowd. "I can't think of a general manager in baseball that's as good as him. Granted, I don't know all of them ... but I just think he's heads and shoulders above everybody else."

Wow.

Never mind the season hitting rock bottom. The Colorado Rockies organization has hit rock bottom.

For Monfort to proclaim Dan O’Dowd is a master of his craft is worse than a fallacy.

It’s a downright insult.

And the 32,000-plus depressed fans who trudge their way into Coors Field game after game deserve better than to be lied to by the man who is collecting the money we spend on his franchise. Monfort’s statement also contributes to the unabashed arrogance of his business. The Rockies have had only one legitimate good year’s worth of baseball in the last 16 seasons, but speak as if they’re among the league’s elite. They boast about their superior scouting and their top flight minor league system, and now, with the fans nearing revolt, the man on the throne labels his GM the best in the land.

There’s a reason local sports talk shows have already turned the page on the Rockies and begun clamoring about the upcoming Broncos season. The reason; the Broncos are truly the only team in the region dedicated to winning a championship.

The Broncos don’t speak. They act.

John Elway doesn’t brag about some sleeper he scooped up in the 6th round of the draft; he and his colleagues go out and sign the most prolific free agent in NFL history.

The Nuggets get a pass since they are still in the wake of trading away a franchise player and are in somewhat of a rebuilding phase. But at least the Nugs are competitive and dead set on putting an acceptable product on the court.

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Even the Avalanche, who is in the midst of a rebuild of their own and arguably an afterthought of owner Josh Kroenke, has more pride than the Rockies. After the Avs crawled to the franchise’s worst finish in 2009, management cleaned house. Every coach and the general manager were promptly fired at season’s end and a press release issued by the team didn’t sugarcoat the dismissals. Team president Pierre Lacroix proclaimed, “The results of this season are unacceptable…We are too proud of what we have accomplished in this market... Ownership and the dedicated Avalanche fans throughout the region deserve better results.”

Every team will fall into ruts and slumps, and the dedicated franchises will find a way to climb back into the upper echelon of the league. The Rockies have no such desire. Dick Monfort’s bottom line is money, and as long as his club is inflating his bank account, he won’t make any changes. Every poor season has a proverbial light at the end of the tunnel, whether it be a high draft pick or a team’s promise to make significant offseason changes.

The Rockies have no such light. They can’t draft, and Lord O’Dowd refuses to address the most glaring of position needs when winter rolls around.

Where does it end, Mr. Monfort?

“There is no way that we are as poor of a team as we are playing,” the owner told The Post.